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Feb 21 |
With the possible threat of snow on Friday and predictions of the perfect sailing day coming from the weatherman Mike, Mark, Robbie and I siezed the day and went sailing. It was a bright sunny day on Walker but the kind of day you had to keep your gloves on and your hood up. We had a lot of warm ups in the truck. A typical ride was to push out from the ramp, get the sail damn near ripped off your boat, get under control and hang on, stall by Gull ledges, turn and do it all over again. At one point today I was stalled with my telltale not even wiggling and Mark was hiking less than 50' away from me. I guess you call that isolated sailing. The handsome boy with the bright red tongue in the photo is Mikes son Robbie. Rob is quite an avid iceboater and when he gets big enough to sail on his own we're all going to be taking the back seat to him. He started out riding in the cockpit with his dad but soon outgrew that area and got relocated to the rear beam. Rob has more miles of riding on a rear beam than any one I know. When Mike and Robbie sail past me I don't know which one of them has the bigger grin on his face. They love to go fast and be out front. Mike said Robbie makes for good ballast in a gust but needs to teach him to run from one side of the rear beam to the other when tacking.LOL Today Rob was test riding in a new sidecar and quite anxious to get rigged and on the ice. The bone chilling cold did not hinder his efforts to help his dad rig the Locomotive and little red caboose. Rob looks comfy on his new perch. I wonder what Rob will be setting in 10 years from now? This sidecar has the tow behind option as well. I missed a priceless photo when Mike went into a small hike with Rob in tow. Rob had the good sense to yell "Slow Down". We sailed and tinkered til late afternoon. Mark put on his smaller sail and showed us that you can hike with a little sail. He also demonstrated hiking with a jammed sheet. We didn't know it at the time but gave him extra credit for that one. Mark said he caught the attention of an eagle and they drag raced the length of the pond. He said the eagle flew just above his rigging. I have been home schooling myself on center of effort. I have a row of paralell screw holes in my deck about 16" long where my mast step goes. I think I went beyond the sweet spot with todays adjustment so now I am reversing the process. It is really amazing how one inch of rake or step movement can have such an effect. It really is a balancing act. |